Eren KumcuoğluExecutive profile Start a conversation
C-level executive · Istanbul, Türkiye 2007 — 2026 · 9 companies · 5 sectors

ErenKumcuoğlu

Most business failures are alignment failures. For nineteen years I have worked in the gap between what a company decides and what it actually does, as a marketer, a growth lead, a COO and a board chairman.

Eren Kumcuoğlu, portrait, Istanbul
Eren KumcuoğluIstanbul, 2026
₺25B+

monthly transaction volume enabled at Ozan

#29→2

Ozan's rank among Türkiye's card acquirers

€55M+

raised across 20+ fan-token offerings at Bitci

2.8→30%

Huawei's Türkiye market share in 18 months

The work

The rarest executive skill is holding strategy and execution in the same hand, at the same time.

Fast companies break in predictable places. Sales promises what operations can't deliver. Compliance arrives as a brake instead of a design input. Product builds for a market the finance team has stopped funding. Nobody is wrong, and the company still stalls.

My job has been to close those gaps: to set the operating system, the governance and the economics so that growth survives contact with auditors, card schemes and a board. I have done it in brands, in an agency, in gaming, in mobility and in regulated payments.

The story

Nineteen years. Three things learned in order.

First growth inside the giants, then the P&L, then the institution. Below, the short version: one line per company and the result that mattered most.

Ülker Samsung Philips Ininal Pure InGame Martı B Ozan
Act I · Growth inside the giants Act II · The P&L Act III · The institution
Act I · 2007–2016

Growth inside the giants

I was never the marketer who wants the budget. I asked what the spend would earn, and without revenue behind it the money stayed in the account. Inside these giants I learned to build systems a global company can run on, and to do unusual work with multi-million-dollar budgets. From 2016 on, I took both into every startup.

2007–2009
ÜlkerPR & Digital Marketing Specialist

Ran Türkiye's first social media campaign and its first integrated online–offline campaign.

2009–2014
Samsung ElectronicsHead of Digital Marketing & Content Services

200+ product and service launches. Türkiye's first video, e-book and music services. Mobile went from challenger to #1.

2014–2016
PhilipsDigital Marketing & CRM Manager

Rebuilt the digital, CRM, search and media operating model; €200K annualised saving within three months.

Act II · 2016–2021

Learning the P&L

Growth with a number attached. A young fintech, an agency's full P&L, a gaming company's revenue lines and a mobility app's payment stack.

2016–2017
IninalChief Marketing Officer

Helped build Türkiye's first fintech and the prepaid-card wallet category. Fully KYC'd users 600K → 1.2M.

2017–2019
PureManaging Director

Led Huawei's communications: market share from 2.8% to 30%+ in 18 months, Effie Gold.

2019–2020
InGame GroupMarketing, Sales & BD Director

Zula Mobile to #1 on Google Play and the App Store within 24 hours, with zero paid media.

2020–2021
MartıVP of Growth & Marketing

Prepaid-card payments added 20% to turnover in five months; payment margin cut from 1.6% to 1.0%.

Act III · 2021–2026

Learning the institution

Regulated money at scale. Card schemes, the central bank and a board: the work of making a fast company auditable without making it slow.

2021
BitciCMO (& acting COO)

€55M+ raised across 20+ fan-token offerings, including Brazil's €15M sell-out in 19 minutes.

2021–2026
OzanCOO & Chairman of the Board

Built from scratch to Türkiye's #2 acquirer and #5 issuer; ₺25B+ monthly volume; clean Visa, Mastercard, TCMB and MASAK audits.

The full story Nine chapters with the problems, the campaigns and the people behind every number. Read the career journey →
The record

Before and after.

The starting point, the end point and the distance between them. Each line is drawn on its own scale, shown under the bar.

Huawei market share, Türkiye

Pure · 2017–2019
040% 2.8% 30%
+27 ptsin 18 months

Samsung brand attitude

Samsung · 2009–2014
050% 7% 43%
+36 ptsin 5 years

Acquirer ranking, Türkiye

Ozan · 2021–2024
#30#1 #29 #2
27 placesup

Issuer ranking, Türkiye

Ozan · 2021–2024
#30#1 #22 #5
17 placesup

Fully KYC-verified users

Ininal · 2016–2017
01.5M 0.6M 1.2M
2×users

Monthly active users

Ininal · 2016–2017
0800K 300K 650K
2.2×MAU

Brand awareness

Ininal · 2016–2017
010% 4% 8%
2×year on year

Profitability per sales channel

InGame · 2019–2020
010% 3% 8%
+5 ptsmargin

Payment provider margin

Martı · 2020–2021
2%0 1.6% 1%
−0.6 ptsper transaction

Hollow dot: position when I arrived. Solid dot: position when I left or at the milestone date.

Approach

How I run a company.

Five beliefs I have paid for. None of them came from a book.

  1. On culture

    Culture is an operating system.

    It is installed by what leaders reward and tolerate on an ordinary Tuesday, not by the values poster.

  2. On compliance

    A clean audit is a competitive advantage.

    In regulated markets, the company that treats compliance as design input moves faster than the one that treats it as a brake.

  3. On growth

    Growth only counts if it makes money.

    I check what each sale earns before I look at the growth chart. A company that grows while losing money on every sale is only losing money faster. In payments, a tenth of a percent of margin is real money.

  4. On operations

    Everyone sees the same numbers.

    I build companies where every unit talks to the others, KPIs are clear, and the company goal is known by everyone. When everything is visible, teams pull in the same direction without being told.

  5. On hiring

    Hire character. Train skill.

    Skills can be taught in a quarter. Integrity and ownership can't be taught at all.

Now · September 2026

What I'm doing now.

  • Building AI-native productsHands-on, from architecture to go-to-market.
  • Writing again, after fifteen yearsWeekly essays on leadership, growth and unfiltered marketing, in Turkish and English. I blogged from 2007 to 2011; the archive is still online.
  • Open to a small number of mandatesC-level roles, board seats and advisory work where growth and regulation meet.
Latest writing All essays and the 2007–2011 archive →
Türkçe

Eren Kumcuoğlu kimdir?

Eren Kumcuoğlu, fintech, ödeme sistemleri, kripto, oyun, mobilite ve tüketici elektroniği alanlarında 19 yıllık deneyime sahip, İstanbul merkezli bir üst düzey yöneticidir. Kariyerine 2007'de Ülker'de başladı; Türkiye'nin ilk sosyal medya kampanyasını ve ilk online-offline entegre kampanyasını hayata geçirdi.

Samsung Electronics Türkiye'de dijital pazarlama ve içerik servislerini yönetti; 5 yıllık görevi boyunca 200'ün üzerinde ürün ve hizmet lansmanı gerçekleştirdi, Türkiye'nin ilk video, e-kitap ve müzik servislerini yayına aldı. Philips'te dijital ve CRM operasyonunu yeniden kurdu. Ininal'de CMO olarak Türkiye'nin ilk fintech'inin ve ön ödemeli kartla cüzdan servisleri kategorisinin inşa edilmesinde rol oynadı. Pure'da genel müdür olarak görev yaptığı sürede Huawei iletişim çalışmalarının sorumluluğunu üstlenerek markanın kısa sürede pazar liderliğine yaklaşan stratejisini ve işlerini oluşturdu. InGame Group'ta pazarlama, satış ve iş geliştirme direktörü, Martı'da büyüme ve pazarlamadan sorumlu başkan yardımcısı olarak görev yaparak şirketlerin kârlılıklarında önemli rol oynadı.

2021'de Bitci'de CMO ve vekâleten COO olarak 20'den fazla fan token satışıyla 55 milyon Euro'nun üzerinde kaynak yaratılmasını yönetti. 2021–2026 arasında Ozan'da COO ve Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı olarak şirketi Türkiye'nin en büyük ikinci üye işyeri (acquirer) ve beşinci kart çıkaran (issuer) kuruluşu konumuna taşıdı; Visa, Mastercard, TCMB ve MASAK denetimlerinden temiz geçti.

Bugün yapay zekâ tabanlı ürünler geliştiriyor, liderlik ve büyüme üzerine Türkçe ve İngilizce yazıyor ve seçili C-level, yönetim kurulu ve danışmanlık görevlerine açık.

Contact

If this maps to your problem, let's talk.

I read every message myself. The most useful first note says what is growing, what is breaking, and who is on the board.

erenkumcuoglu@gmail.com

Off the clock: family, the gym, motorbikes, camping, travel and DIY builds.